Punishment
by ghost02
Summary: Angel is being punished for certain actions in Smile Time.


TITLE: Punishment   
AUTHOR: Kelso   
E-MAIL: kelso28@excite.com   
SPOILERS: "Smile Time"   
RATING: PG   
SUMMARY: I liked "Smile Time" a lot. I really did. Except for one small aspect: Angel and his new bimbo, Nina. So in this story, Angel is being punished for being a moron.   
WEBSITE: see my author profile for the link. I have B/A(us), B/S, and miscellaneous stories there.   
DISTRIBUTION: anywhere   
DISCLAIMER: "Angel" characters belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, etc.   
  
*******  
  
Angel had been a puppet for five days: five long, excruciating days full of humiliation and inconvenience. He was sick of being three feet tall, and missing a finger on each hand, and being unable to reach the pedals of his car, and being squealed over by half the employees of Wolfram & Hart, who seemed to think he was unbearably cute. 

On the fifth day, after he'd experienced no improvement in his condition, he summoned Wesley and Fred to his office to have a discussion about the matter. 

"Why am I still a puppet?" he complained, hating the petulant edge to his voice but helpless to alter it. "You said it should have worn off by now." 

"Um, we were wrong?" Fred offered, looking at Wesley rather than at Angel. 

Angel scowled and waved them both away. It was no use consulting with them these days; ever since they'd experienced that breakthrough in their personal relationship, they'd been too deeply wrapped up in each other to greatly concern themselves with his little problem. 

"Give it another couple of days and if there's no change by then, we'll look into it again," Wes said distractedly as he and Fred escaped. 

AngelPuppet sighed, squared his shoulders, and trudged out of his office in the direction of the cafeteria, where he was supposed to meet Nina for lunch. They'd been having every meal together in their efforts to find out what puppets ate. So far Angel had discovered a marked preference for breakfast foods. 

Gunn swooped down the hallway toward him. "Hey, boss, how ya doin'?" he said jovially, yanking off Angel's right ear as he passed. (It had, unfortunately, turned out that Angel's nose was not the only detachable part of his new body.) 

"Give that back," Angel growled, only too well aware of how hard it was to come across as authoritative when you were made of felt and had to crane your neck to see your companion's face. 

"Spike!" Gunn looked past Angel. "Wanna play catch?" He displayed the stolen ear and tossed it up and down. 

Spike shook his head while keeping a wary eye on Angel. "Nah, count me out." He'd been very careful to maintain his distance ever since the embarrassing elevator run-in with the puppet. 

"Tell Harmony I said to give you *another* car," Angel snapped before Spike could even ask. "And Gunn, give me my ear back or I'll bite off one of yours." 

Looking abashed, Gunn leaned over and jammed the ear back on Angel's head. "Sorry, just having a little fun." 

Grumbling, Angel did his best to ignore the stares and titters of various onlookers and continued on his stubby legs to the cafeteria, where Nina was sitting at their usual table with their meals already waiting. 

"Good afternoon, Angel," she greeted him. "Uh, why is your ear crooked?" 

Angel ignored the question, hauled himself onto the seat beside her, and confronted his plate of bacon and eggs. For a few moments his clumsy puppet hands fumbled with the knife and fork before Nina took pity on him. "Let me get that for you. I don't mind." She expertly carved his eggs into bite-sized chunks and speared one on the end of the fork. "Come on, open up." 

Here, Angel balked. "I am *not* going to let you feed me. I can do it myself." He seized the utensils and promptly knocked over his glass of milk with his elbow. He sighed again and surrendered. "Fine, feed me." 

After their meal, Nina walked Angel back to his office and stood waiting expectantly. As he had done the previous day, he tugged over an overturned cardboard box, climbed onto the top of it, and stretched up to kiss her. If he ever managed to grow a few more inches, it wouldn't be so damn uncomfortable. 

Nina smiled. "See you for supper tonight, Angel?" 

"See you for supper," he agreed. Nina departed, and Angel hopped off of the box. He left it where it lay; he'd probably need it again tomorrow. 

He closed and locked the door before he stumped over to his desk and hoisted himself onto his chair to muse over the reason for his latest change in fortune. Ever since he'd become a puppet he'd had this strange feeling that it was punishment for something he'd done, but he hadn't been able to put his finger on exactly which sin he'd recently committed. 

He thought back over the events of the past week. He'd helped broker a truce between two tribes of Korinthos demons. He'd given Harmony a mildly positive job evaluation that had made her squeal with delight. He'd donated a small fortune of W&H's profits to cancer research. He'd begun going out with Nina. 

Nope. Nothing in any of that to warrant punishment. 

END 


End file.
